|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
The Great Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel Story.
At the end 1986
I started to write a book about the great Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. When
I finished it I sent it to Marc Badger and Liz Stoopman who did the grammatical
and I continued writing after Steve’s tour in 1989. I handed a copy over to
Steve and in 1991 the book was finished. Most fans have never seen a copy
because I did not release it. I only released a couple of copies as a demo. In
1997 I started on the first internetsite which I did for someone in Holland. At
that time it was great but times are changing. Then it was the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel –site.
New days are
coming,
I met some fantastic new friends and they offered to help me with the story. Please
be patient for part II.
With regards
Hans
Peters
The story so
far...
Steve Harley
Steve Harley was born
on the 27th of February 1951 as Stephen Nice. At the age of two Steve caught
the dreaded and feared disease Polio, and spent four of his first fourteen
years in hospital beds, where a good deal of his education took place. Music
was always a strong force in the family. His mother was a jazz singer before
she married, and it was obviously her talent that had been inherited by Steve. School
wasn't really of interest and he found a job working for a newspaper, he had
always wanted to be a journalist. After all this experience he decided it was
not how he really wanted to earn his living. Steve had some piano and guitar
lessons and at the age of 19 - 20 he started buskin around and formed a band. When
Steve had written enough songs, the band practised a lot and Cockney Rebel was born.
1973
Cockney Rebel
The band signed for EMI and recorded their first album 'Cockney Rebel' later mentioned
as 'The Human Menagerie'
at the London Air Studios. After the
summer-recordings of the album, the first single 'Sebastian' came out on the
31st of August. Unfortunately it only charted Britain, though it became a
classic and massive hit elsewhere.
Not long after
that he came into contact with Alan Parsons who had been working as producer
for The Beatles. They recorded 'Judy
Teen', which
has been released in March 1974.
A new album 'The Psychomodo' was on the list,
produced by Alan Parsons and Steve. The title is a contraction of the Hitchcock
thriller 'Psyche' and the 'Quasimodo' character from the 'Notre Dame'. The album includes the hit 'Mr. Soft'. Over the years
Steve played more than 15 different versions of this song. The album contains
also 'Tumbling
Down'. 'Tumbling Down' had been recorded with a full orchestra and for some
countries the single 'Psychomodo'.
On the 18th of July the band received
a 'Gold Award' for the outstanding new
act of 1974. Not long after that, on the 23rd of July, the band
split up.
1974
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
After the split Steve had to form a
new band for the Reading Rock Festival. In the meantime he released a solo
single 'Big Big Deal' which he recorded
with Stuart Elliot, but unfortunately it went nowhere.
On the 23rd of
November Steve wrote a piece about 'Steve Harley' in the Melody Maker.
1975 The Best
Years Of Our Lives
Very soon the band went into the
Abbey Road Studios with Alan Parsons as producer. They choose the
shortest track 'Make Me Smile'
for release. Within two
weeks Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel had a number one hit in
England and a smash hit elsewhere. It became a million-seller. The album 'The Way We Used To Be'
as it originally was called had been changed to 'The Best Years Of Our Lives' and was released March in 1975.
To keep the momentum going 'Mr. Raffles' was cut and re-mixed into a few minutes version and in the
summer of '75 and Steve went back into the studio to record some new songs he
had written during his last tour. At the same time he had been asked to assist
in the recording and production of Patricia Paay's first album 'Beam Of Light'. Steve re-arranged the song 'Sebastian' and wrote 'Understand' for her.
1976 Timeless Flight
It was poetry into music and its title was derived from the
song 'All
Men Are Hungry'.
On the 7th of November there was
the release of a single
'Black Or White' with a Hammersmith
Odeon live 'Mad
Mad Moonlight' on the other side. About
the same time
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel went to the States as a
supporting act of the Kinks. As a lot of people had never heard of him and the
song 'Make
Me Smile' was doing fine, he released a compilation for the American market:
'A Closer Look'.
In between the band went to States for a tour and as the single 'Black Or White'
didn't chart he
released in January 1976 the song 'White White Dove'.
Unfortunately there was no escape
from a flop and Steve's effort to reinstate the album's credibility failed.
Steve went on tour with this
concept and started to work at some bits and pieces. Although disappointed with
sales of 'Timeless Flight', his interest in
emotions developed and he wrote and produced one of his finest albums:
1976 Love’s A Prima Donna
On this
album Steve succeeded gradually to build a bridge between pop and classical
music, whilst some songs contain certain elements of Doo-Wop, Sixties, Rock
& Roll and some Jazz. Before its release the single-cover 'Here Comes The Sun'
(Harrison) was
expected to 
open the door to the charts and
reached the 
position 
of number 10. As second single 'Love's A Prima Donna'
has been released. As Steve hadn't had hits abroad
now for a long time he decided to direct his energies and efforts toward the
U.K. From this tour he recorded the concerts, sorted the best tracks and
released a double live album.
1977 Face
To Face
Just before the release of the
album, he announced that he had split Cockney Rebel again. The
album gave a good view of the band live and Steve had achieved so far.
To promote the album the song 'The Best
Years Of Our Lives' with its B side 'Tumbling Down' was released in July
as a single and a twelve inch.
1978
Steve Harley
While he was recording and mixing for the 'Love's A Prima Donna' album, partly in Los
Angeles, he felt attracted to the city and later bought a house in Beverly
Hills. He stayed there for nearly a year to gain new experience and
inspirations. He did record and write a few songs and in the summer of '78 he
finished an album on his return to England.
1978. Hobo With A Grin
'It's an album of old songs and a few others I
wrote when I got back, simply for the reason I couldn't write there', he told
the papers a few months later. A couple of songs had been recorded with some
famous musicians, to mention a few: Rikkie Fataar (ex Beach Boys), Bill Payne
(Little Feat) and Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers). At this point it would-be
appropriate to mention Steve's good friend 'Marc Bolan', who played guitar on 'America The Brave'. Tragically Marc died in a motor car accident in South
London. One week before the album came out, a single was released to clear its
way to the charts. 'Roll The Dice'
was the chosen single but unfortunately it didn't
chart that well. The second single a remix of 'Someone's Coming', came out but
followed the fate of the first.
In May Steve played a few songs as a guest-star on Kate Bush's benefit
concert. A few months later Steve announced a planned comeback with a new
concept and a new band. The album was finished and in the first week of October
the third track from the album made its entrance to the charts. A few days
later the album came and on the 20th Steve returned to a sold out Hammersmith
Odeon were he showed us a new classic pop song 'Star For A Week' better known as
'Dino', an ordinary boy from
the streets who wanted to find his own identity.
10 years later Steve released this song, a different version, on 'Yes You Can'
1979. The Candidate
Despite predictions the album did
not sell that well and 'Freedom's Prisoner', a song where Steve combines elements of new wave with more
orthodox pop, stuck at number 51. In contrast to British reviews Germany
thought well of the album.
As opinions
seem to be spread it is worth to point out some very strong songs:
'Young Hearts (The Candidate)' is a song about social development among
peers, and also the beautiful 'Love On The Rocks'. 'One More Time' is a very Dylanistic
song, and of course the more religion-song 'Audience With A Man' Steve's favourite.
That's
basically about every person and nation, every human being somewhere has his
example to aspire to and follow.
The Eighties
Even though the
eighties have been in Steve's words the 'lost years', there is still a lot to
tell. On Monday the 23rd of June, Steve suddenly gave a one off gig in the
Venue with Jim and Duncan as guests. The concert was a try out for his new band
and to let the public know that he's still working.
In November a 'Best Of...' was for sale. An album made of singles, some other
favourites and the lost song 'Big Big Deal'.
To promote the album, the single 'Make Me Smile' with 'Sebastian' on the B-side was released. After the release of the album
Steve announced a tour with Cockney Rebel again. A few
Christmas dates had been planned and he
introduced three new songs. 'My Cold Heart', 'I Could Be Anyone' and 'Such Is Life' besides a reggae-version of 'Mr. Soft'.
1981 - 1989
Things and times were changing. Steve, who parted from
Yvonne Keeley after six years, married Dorothy Cromby in February of this year.
There were also some rumours of the release of a new album, but they did not
materialise. Shortly after, he went to rehearse some new songs with the band
and gave another one-off on the 18th of August. After the concert he got a call
from an agent who had seen him on stage and was asked if he would accept a role
as 'Christopher Marlowe' in Marlowes "Conspiracy'. Steve accepted and
shortly stepped on stage receiving an enthusiastic response and loving critics.
In his return to England he wrote some new songs and rehearsed again for a new
tour around Christmas time. He introduced 'Don't Shoot, Till You See
The Whites Of Their Eyes', 'Knock On Her World' and his forthcoming single 'I Can't Even Touch You'.
Three weeks into the New Year the
release of his new single
'I Can't Even
Touch You', a surrealistic love song produced by his friend Midge Ure
and released by Chrysalis. It never even entered the charts, despite their
feeling it could be a hit. On the B-side was 'I Can Be Anyone', totally different
from the live version he showed the audience these last two years.
Although fans waited, nothing was
heard until suddenly on the 10th of June another one-off gig occurred. Nobody
could seem to predict what Harley would do next. The concert was a sell out in
no time with the impact and atmosphere of a full stadium. 'Too Much Tenderness'
made its entrance for the first time along with a
completely different version of 'Sebastian', a new song 'Sophistication' and 'Ballerina( Prima Donna)', the latter
being written and produced by another of Steve's
friends, Mike Batt (Lady Of The Dawn). The song became a single on the 17th of
June. About a month later the band appeared at the
last official
Reading Rock Festival yet again to a favourable response. Later that year EMI
released a double album
'The Human
Menagerie/The Psychomodo'.
1984
It was in December that Steve and Company did another
one-off gig at Camden Palace. He hadn't been there for about 10 years and now
it was a special performance for Satellite
Television Broadcast. The violin
that returned after years of absence and another new song was introduced, 'Irresistible'.
On the 1st of
May 'New Musical Express' announced that Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel were
back on vinyl and a single 'Irresistible' would-be out on
the 28th of May with its B side 'Such Is Life', a song he played live in 1980. Steve was just halfway
through another new album, the first one for RAK, when Mike Batt who
recommended him to Andrew Lloyd Webber approached him. He agreed to record the
title track from 'The Phantom Of The Opera'
and in January 1986 the single 'The Phantom Of The Opera'
was released.
In April he released his second
single for RAK 'Heartbeat Like Thunder' and the twelve
inch remix. It was recorded with Duncan Mackay, Mark Brzezicki from Big Country
on drums and Stuart Elliot's backing vocals. It contains a wall of sound by
synthesisers and emulators with a couple of melodies on top of it. On the B
-side was self-produced 'Warm My Cold Heart'.
In June that year RAK released a
re-mixed single and twelve inch of 'Irresistible' with its B-side
'Lucky Man' featuring Midge Ure on
guitar.
During the next
couple of months Steve worked very hard on the musical drama of 'Marlowe' where
he played the title role of the life of the 16th century Bon Viveur playwright
and poet 'Christopher Marlowe' - he had excellent reviews. A leading London
critic described it as 'A major and moving performance'.
Time passes...
In the next year a lot of
compilation albums were released. EMI re-
released the single 'Mr. Soft' with its B-side 'Mad Mad Moonlight' in April together with
'The Greatest Hits'.
The actual reason was in fact of the success of the
commercial on 'Soft Mints' where they have used 'Mr. Soft's' melody. On November came a cancer research charity single
by Steve with Mike Batt and Jon Anderson 'Whatever You Believe' on Epic.
Not so long
after that came a second compilation album 'Mr. Soft'. And if that wasn't enough a second compilation double
album came out. This 'Collection'
contains the more interesting side of Steve. It
includes some live tracks from 'Face To Face' and the more theatrical songs.
Early 1989
Steve went into the studio with Jim, Duncan & Stuart to record some demos
and it worked well. As quiet as it was the last few years, much seems to be
happening now. Steve and the most successful reincarnation of Cockney Rebel are
back again. With his new manager Steve arranged an extended tour for February
in England and March abroad. He added a couple of new songs to his repertoire, 'Not Alone Anymore'
(Roy Orbison),' Dancing On The Telephone', 'When I'm With You' and 'The Lighthouse'.
Success again
reached him everywhere and he released a new song on vinyl 'When I'm With You'
to promote his tour. On the B-side is the 'Theme From Babbacombe Lee', a soundtrack for a film in which is a true story of John 'Babbacombe' Lee, who survived
three attempts to hang him in Victorian times. After the singles release the
band rehearsed some more songs and appeared at each gig for about two hours or
more. At the end of the year he gave another five concerts in England, with the
final on the 22nd of
December at
Hammersmith Odeon with special guest Jim Cregran. With almost a whole year of
touring behind him he's finally standing in the place where fans wanted him to
be.
In October 1991 Steve has been
invited to play 'Night Of The Proms' and after another
big European tour fans and public kept asking for a new album. Steve who played
those songs all over the years wasn’t very happy at first to record that old
stuff.
Finally he released 'Yes You Can', a collection of old songs never released before and some
new ones. Steve drew the cover and there it was the first album after nearly a
decade. In 1993 the album was released in the UK with the songs in a different
order and with a futuristic blue cover. To promote the album Steve wrote a
complete new tour , the YES YOU CAN - tour with some new musicians.
Meanwhile all these tours Steve
again wrote some new songs, which resulted in a new album at the end of 1996. Before
that 'Poetic Justice' came out another
compilation was released: 'Live At The BBC', later re-released as 'On Air', a live in the studio - February 1974. Steve has been
asked a lot for radio and TV and there was also a new album so again he starts
touring. First some shows on the continent later with Nick Pinn the 'Stripped To The Bare Bones' - tour.
It has been very successful and
Steve is planning to release a live-registration of this tour.
The album 'Poetic Justice'
contains some very nice poems. 'All In A Life's Work' and 'The Last Time I Saw You'
are absolute masterpieces. It also contains poems
from great artists like Van Morrison and Dylan. Steve himself recorded another
version of 'Riding
The Waves'. Unfortunately no efforts and singles were taken to
promote this album.
In 1999 Steve
refered to a terrible state and he did indeed. He started his own label 'Comupance'
and released the missing albums himself. 'Hobo With A Grin' , 'Poetic Justice' and 'The Candidate'. Many tours, many
new songs, many concerts, many shows. Steve recorded with Jim Cregran and Mike
Batt 'Friend
For Life'. The
man just doesn't stop. Of all artists who started his career Steve is one of
the who is still active. That deserves respect.
Hans Peters